The present invention relates generally to improvements in the art of producing electric conductors with an attached end terminal.
It has been known heretofore from U.S. Pat. No. 4,244,101, which is incorporated in this application by reference, to provide a conveyor arrangement that is attached to and cooperatively associated with a conventional type high speed wire cutter and insulation stripping apparatus wherein a stripped conductor is delivered to a supply zone where it is picked up by conveyor carried gripping jaws of a finger assembly and transported to a wire inserter device in a terminal attaching zone for axially moving the stripped conductor in a manner to position one of its stripped ends in a wire receiving portion of a terminal for attachment thereto by means of an associated conventional terminal attaching device.
In the above mentioned patent, the disclosed apparatus is limited to use in those operations where a single terminal is to be attached to one end only of an electric conductor. Thus, only a relatively small axial movement of the conductor is required during the operation. This movement is readily achieved in this case by the wire inserter device which inserts the stripped end of the conductor into the receiving end portion of the terminal that is to be attached
The present invention differs from that of the above mentioned patent in that it is arranged to attach terminals to both ends of the predetermined conductor length which may be in some cases of the order of ten feet more or less.
An important feature of the present invention resides in the provision of a back feed and control sensing switching means which are positioned in the conveyor path of movement of the conductor between a first terminal attaching device for attaching a terminal to one end of a conductor and a second terminal attaching device for attaching a terminal to the other end of the conductor.
The control sensing switching means comprises a pair of laterally spaced switches respectively having sensing actuating elements positioned in the path of movement of the conductor with a terminal attached at one end. When the conductor is of such length that both sensing elements are engaged, a pair of gripping rollers are activated into gripped relation with the end of the conductor having the terminal thereon, and are rotatably motivated at a relatively high speed to move the conductor lengthwise in a direction to move the other end of the conductor towards a position for attachment of a terminal thereto by the second terminal attaching device. Longitudinal movement of the conductor continues until the other end of the conductor is moved past the sensing element of the first switch whereupon the sensing elements of the switches will operatively coact to reduce the speed of movement of the conductor by the gripping rollers, until the other end is moved past the sensing element of the last switch, whereupon the operation of the feed rollers will be terminated and a braking force applied to terminate the longitudinal movement of the conductor. Lateral movement of the conyeyor then carries the conductor and the conductor end without a terminal thereon to the second terminal attaching device where the second terminal is attached.